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Vincent Bove Article

 
Published in:

The Practitioner, 3rd Quarter 2004
The New Jersey Police Chief, December 2004

Responding to the Leadership Crisis in an Age Of Terror
By Vincent J. Bove, CPP

Leadership as a critical American response to the events of September 11 and the potential if not inevitable additional terror attacks on American soil and interests demands a discerning evaluation. Events within all facets of American society overtly depict deficiencies and the need for more dynamic leadership. Characteristics of this leadership must be perseverance, dedication, collaboration, communication and education of the community.

Unlike any other period in American history, a scale of violence and potential violence (including biological, chemical, and radioactive weapons) has now entered into the American homeland. Therefore, a collaborative, sustained, vigilant effort of security professionals, law enforcement officials and the citizenry must be cultivated. Guidelines for these partnerships, otherwise known formally as Operation Cooperation, were developed by the United States Department of Justice.

Operation Cooperation represents a major initiative to encourage partnerships between law enforcement and private security professionals. These forged partnerships must be built on hallmark foundational principles of leadership, which is that leaders inspire, motivate, educate and leave an indelible positive mark and legacy on history.

In order to build on these positive characteristics of leadership, it is first necessary to take an honest, serious and enlightening look into contemporary deficiencies of leadership within the very fabric of American society.

A Failure of Leadership

On September 11, 2003, coincidentally the second anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, the front page of the business section of The New York Times, depicted a photo of the former Enron treasurer in handcuffs and ankle shackles. Ben Glison Jr. pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit fraud, which was the heart of a corporate scandal that crippled his company by manipulating its financials statements by as much as $1 billion. The former treasurer�s reprehensible actions led to a 5-year prison sentence. This conspiracy had a significant adverse impact on the company, its investors, employees, retired employees and America�s trust in corporate leadership.

A colleague of Ben Glison Jr., former Enron chief executive Jeffrey Skilling was in handcuffs on February 19, 2004. Mr. Skilling, 50 years old, was being escorted from FBI headquarters in Houston, Texas and facing 325 years in prison. He was charged with 35 counts of fraud and insider trading that generated $62.6 million from stock and scheming to mislead government regulators and investors.

Another Enron leader, former CEO and Chairman Ken Lay followed the scandalous headlines of his associates by being led away in handcuffs on July 8, 2004. Mr. Lay had an 11-count indictment, which included conspiracy to manipulate financials as well as false and misleading statements about financial performance. Enron�s 2001 collapse, in the very year of the 9/11 attacks, cost investors billions, caused thousands to lose jobs and wiped out life long retirement savings. A once admired company was now an icon of corporate America�s greed, dishonesty and excess with executives selfishly enriching themselves through salary, bonuses and stock at the expense of others.

Compounding the Enron scandal on March 3, 2004, WorldCom CEO Bernard Ebbers was charged in the biggest corporate fraud scheme in American history, at an estimated cost of $11 billion. The former titan of American business success arrived at Jacob K. Javitz Federal Court House in New York after surrendering to the FBI on federal charges to commit securities fraud and making false statements to the Securities Exchange Commission.

Aside from the corporate shame, a crisis of leadership also affected the American Catholic Church. Bishop Wilton D. Gregory, President of The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops in June 2002 expressed an apology to victims of sexual abuse by priests, saying that church leaders were to blame for allowing them to remain in the ministry. Bishop Gregory acknowledged that some church leaders had been more concerned about scandal then victims. �We are the ones who chose not to report the criminal actions of priests to the authorities and who worried more about the possibility of scandal then preventing abuses�. A comprehensive report by the Attorney General of Massachusetts entitled �The Sexual Abuse of Children in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston� was released on July 23, 2003. The core of the report (investigating abuse within the Archdiocese of Boston where the national scandal first ignited) stated that the scandal was due to a �massive and pervasive failure of leadership in the Church�.

The tragic commentary on the crisis of American leadership continues with the contemptuous reality of public corruption. This is most clearly emphasized in the February 16, 2005 congressional testimony of the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation before the Senate Committee on Intelligence of the United States Senate. Although the primary emphasis of this testimony was on terrorism, the Director stated that there is a convergence of criminal threats, in that counter terrorism, counterintelligence, cyber and criminal investigations are interrelated and that there are rarely clear dividing lines that distinguish terrorist, counterintelligence and criminal activity. Therefore, public corruption continues to pose the greatest threat to the integrity of all levels of government and recent FBI investigative efforts have been intensified to identify and convict Immigration, Department of State and Department of Motor Vehicle officials illegally selling visas or other citizenship documents and drivers licenses to anyone with enough money. The Director continued with alarming remarks underscoring that illegal activities potentially conceal the identity and purpose of terrorists and other criminals, facilitating their entry, travel and operation without detection in the United States. �Investigations have convicted numerous law enforcement officers, including those who formed criminal organizations involved in drug trafficking. Many major metropolitan areas in the United States have witnessed the indictment and conviction of corrupt public officials who betrayed the public trust for profit or personal gain. Over the last two years alone, the FBI has convicted more than 1,050 corrupt government employees, including 177 federal officials, 158 state officials, 360 local officials and more than 365 police officers� as stated by the FBI Director during his congressional testimony.

9/11 Commission Report

On July 22, 2004 �The 9/11 Commission Report�, that is, the final report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States was released. This report should be required reading for all law enforcement, security officials and citizenry seriously committed to terrorism awareness, preparedness and prevention. It also provides a profound insight into a perverse exercising of leadership in the chapter �Al Qaeda Aims at the American Homeland� by defining the requirements for a successful attack. Essentially, Al Qaeda leaders realized that these leadership characteristics were necessary for organizing and conducting a complex international terrorist operation to inflict catastrophic harm:

  • leaders able to evaluate, approve and supervise the planning and direction of the operation
  • communications sufficient to enable planning and direction of the operatives and those who would be willing to help them
  • a personnel system that could recruit candidates, indoctrinate them and give them necessary training
  • an intelligence effort to gather required information and form assessments of enemy strengths and weaknesses
  • the ability to move people
  • the ability to raise and move the necessary money

Essentially, Al Qaeda used basic foundations of effective leadership to successfully complete its depraved and demented mission against America.

America's Call to Leadership

The 9/11 Commission Report provides an excellent insight into one of the many responses of leadership necessary for the age of terror. In the chapter, �What To Do? A Global Strategy�, the commission report recommends, �The U.S. government must define what the message is and what it stands for. We should offer an example of moral leadership in the world, committed to treat people humanely, abide by the rule of law and be generous and caring to our neighbors. American and Muslim friends can agree on respect for human dignity and opportunity. To Muslim parents, terrorists like Bin Laden have nothing to offer their children but visions of violence and death�.

Aside from a need to inflame the sentiments of America to the criticality of cultural diversity as a paragon of moral leadership, it is also essential that leadership be exercised with basic security procedures, protocol, and awareness. To this extent, the National Crime Prevention Council recommends these preparations for emergencies at the workplace, which should be animated by law enforcement and security experts:

  • Learn about your company's emergency plans. Ensure that a plan is developed if one is not in place.
  • Practice your company's emergency plans, including evacuation plans. Evacuation plans need to be legible and posted prominently on each floor.
  • Know the exit routes and evacuation plans in your building. Know at least two exit routes from each room, if possible. Be able to escape in the dark by knowing how many desks or cubicles are between your workstation and the exits.
  • Have a designated post-evacuation meeting location where appropriate personnel can take a headcount and identify missing workers. Every employee should be aware of this location.
  • Make special emergency plans for co-workers who are disabled or may require assistance during and emergency.
  • Know the location of fire extinguishers and medical kits. Periodically check extinguishers and alarm systems.
  • Make a list of important phone numbers. Keep a printed list at our desk and near other telephones. Do not rely on electronic lists, direct dial phone numbers, or computer organizers that may not work in an emergency.
  • Gather personal emergency supplies in a desk drawer, including a flashlight, walking shoes, water bottle and non-perishable food.
  • Report damaged or malfunctioning safety systems to appropriate personnel for repair and maintenance.
  • Never lock fire exits or block doorways, halls, or stairways. However, keep fire doors closed to slow the spred of smoke and fire.

Training sessions should be conducted to specifically train workplace personnel on issues such as "Signs of Terrorist Activity." The public is the eyes and ears complimenting the work of law enforcement and security professionals. Therefore, training sessions by law enforcement and security leaders should emphasize these aspects of terrorism awareness:

Surveillance

Individuals should take note and report such things as someone recording, photographing or monitoring activities, drawing diagrams or annotating on maps, the use of vision-enhancing devices, having in one�s possession floor plans or blue prints of places such as high-tech firms, financial institutions or government/military facilities. Any of these surveillance type acts may be indicators that something is not right.

Elicitation

This is pertaining to anyone attempting to gain information about a place, person or operation. An example is someone attempting to gain knowledge about a critical infrastructure like a tunnel, power plant, water reservoir, bridge, a corporation or maritime port. Terrorists may attempt to research bridge and tunnel usage, make unusual inquiries concerning shipments or inquire as to how a military base operates. Inappropriate elicitation about a company should also be a concern that is immediately reported to authorities.

Tests of Security

Terrorists can attempt data collection by driving by the target, moving into sensitive areas and observing security or law enforcement response. They would be interested in the time in which an incident is responded to by authorities.

Acquiring Supplies

A red flag should be raised if someone is purchasing or stealing explosives, weapons or ammunition. It is also a concern if someone is storing harmful chemicals or chemical equipment. Terrorists would also find it useful to have in their possession law enforcement equipment, ids, decals or flight passes, badges or even flight manuals.

Suspicious People Who Do Not Belong

Someone in a workplace, building, neighborhood or business establishment that does not fit in because of their demeanor, language usage or unusual questions that they are asking.

Dry Runs

Before execution of the final operation or plan, a practice session will be run to work out the flaws and unanticipated problems. A dry run may very well be the heart of a planning stage of a terrorist act. It is usually during this stage that it is actually the best chance to intercept and stop an attack.

Deploying Assets / Getting into Position

This is the last chance to alert authorities before the terrorist act occurs.

Nearly 3,000 people died on a day of infamy on the American homeland. In lower Manhattan, on a field in Pennsylvania and at the Pentagon, the United States suffered the single largest loss of life from an enemy attack on its soil. America must rise to the occasion, avoid having a short-term memory and establish a culture of leadership that cultivates partnerships, prevention and education.

Vincent J. Bove, CPP is a Board Certified Protection Professional, Board Certified Crime Prevention Specialist, Certified Law Enforcement Instructor and U.S. Department of Justice Certified Community Anti-Terrorism Awareness Trainer.

He is the 2007 New Jersey recipient of the prestigious FBI Director's Community Leadership Award and was hand-selected to serve as a facilitator and mentor for the 2007 National Conference on Ethics in America and speaker for the 2008 conference at the United States Military Academy at West Point.

"Vincent J. Bove is considered one of the foremost national experts on school and workplace violence prevention, specializing in facility protection, evacuations, terrorism prevention and leadership training." -- U.S. Senate

You can visit Mr. Bove's website at www.vincentbove.com or email him at vincent@vincentbove.com

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